Now, scholarship programme to bridge gender gap in tech sector

Booking.com to provide 12 women students scholarship to focus their academics in STEM area

Online travel company, Booking.com on Tuesday announced partnership with two Indian universities for its scholarship programme to bridge gender gap prevalent in the technology sector.

The aim is to provide funding to female students to advance their education in the area of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). The grants will be equal to €170,000 (₹1.3 crore) across the two university agreements providing scholarships to 12 women students..

In India, the travel company is collaborating with undergraduate students at the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala and post-graduate students at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. All the scholarships will commence from the academic year 2019-20.

“While advances are being made to bridge the social divide and provide equal opportunities to women, there still remains an under-representation of women in the technology sector,” said Ritu Mehrotra, Country Manager, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives at Booking.com.

She added, “the prime objective of this initiative is to provide women with a strong foundation, give them the necessary training, skills development and mentorship at an early stage of their careers to encourage their journey in the technology space.”

This initiative was first introduced by Booking.com in 2017 for students at Oxford University in the UK and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. The company this year extended this initiative to two new countries – India and the US.